WILMINGTON, DE — InterDigital Inc. (Nasdaq: IDCC) and ABI Research have released a report examining how the rise of agentic artificial intelligence is expected to reshape demands on devices, mobile networks and cloud infrastructure over the next several years.
The report, titled The Distributed Network Shift Enabling AI on Device, finds that adoption of agentic AI systems is expected to expand across enterprise and consumer markets within three years, increasing the volume of data generated and transmitted by connected devices.
Unlike traditional mobile applications that primarily rely on downloading data, agentic AI systems continuously generate and exchange information to support real-time decision-making, creating sustained demand on network uplink capacity.
According to the report, mobile networks have historically been optimized for downlink traffic such as video streaming, but the growth of AI-enabled devices is expected to increase upstream data flows, raising the risk of congestion, latency and higher operating costs.
The report identifies several categories of devices contributing to increased uplink traffic, including smart glasses, wearable devices, smartphones and internet-connected sensors that transmit video, voice and environmental data to cloud and edge-based AI systems.
ABI Research estimates that smart glasses shipments could reach 70 million units by 2030, with more than 12% expected to include cellular connectivity.
The report states that current uplink pressures are already evident in applications such as livestreaming and video collaboration, but agentic AI systems are expected to generate continuous data exchange rather than intermittent spikes.
To address these demands, the report concludes that the industry will need to adopt distributed computing architectures that allocate AI workloads across on-device processors, edge systems and cloud platforms.
“Agentic AI marks the next phase in the evolution of intelligent connectivity,” said Rajesh Pankaj, chief technology officer at InterDigital, adding that networks will need to balance performance, latency and energy efficiency as AI capabilities expand.
Analysts at ABI Research said the shift will require networks to handle more balanced traffic flows while supporting real-time AI workloads across multiple computing environments.
“Supporting autonomous AI systems will demand far more distributed computing architectures and significantly more intelligent networks,” said Larbi Belkhit and Paul Schell, senior analysts at ABI Research.
The full report is available at https://www.interdigital.com/white_papers/the-distributed-network-shift-enabling-ai-on-device.
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